Title: The Mission From Hell
Author: JackieLupin
Disclaimer: Kishimoto-sama owns all!
Rating: Light R for suggestive language, swearing, and battle scenes. And maybe some sex later on.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR THIS STORY: This is an AU, which means an "Alternate Universe." In this story, Sasuke never left Konoha and never attacked Naruto at the hospital after the Chuunin Exams. Also, I'm making The Hidden Sand Village an ally of Konoha; therefore, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro did NOT attack the Hokage Sarutobi with Orochimaru, and the fight between Team 7 and Gaara/Shukaku never happened. However, Orochimaru did manage to kill the Sandaime, so Tsunade is now Godaime. Sakura has trained underneath Tsunade for four years, so Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke and the Rookie 9 are now 17 years old, while Neji, Tenten and Lee are 18. Yamato-taichou and Sai are also around, but probably won't have major roles in this story.
If you have any questions, please contact me and I'll do my best to set everyone on the right track! Thanks!
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CHAPTER THREE
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Sakura remained in a stupor for the remainder of the night. Team 7 had abandoned the city; the fire had spread too rapidly to continue a search, but they all knew, even if none of them voiced those thoughts, that there was no one left alive. Now they were in the middle of the desert, all hunched around a small that was the only source of warmth in the harsh land where the temperature was stifling during the day and icy during the night. Vaguely she heard Kakashi remark that she might have gone in to shock, but the medic inside of her knew she was fine. She was just... shell shocked, that was it. The sight of that poor girl's body was going to be forever burned into her mind's eye... even now the thought of it was making her stomach roll.
Sakura clenched her legs closer to her body, as much for warmth as it was for comfort, an action of a small child when they were frightened in the dark. She didn't care what her raven-haired teammate thought right now; she felt like a heavy weight had descended onto her shoulders, and her movements were weak and sluggish, like she were under water. She was impervious to the concerned looks she got from Kakashi, the confused and sad glances that Naruto sent her way, and the inquisitive stares of Sasuke.
If we hadn't stayed the night, she thought dejectedly, If we had gone immediately this way, we would have gotten there in time... We could have saved them!
The fire crackled in front of her, jolting her back into her body. She inhaled sharply, icy air sucked into her lungs hungrily. Around her there was silence... the silence was going to kill her. The tension was rising... Sakura glanced up.
"How are you?" Sasuke asked her from her left quietly.
She looked over at him. "Fine," she murmured back softly, then stretched out her cramped legs with a sigh. "Kakashi-sensei?" she ventured, "What do we do next?"
The jounin merely shook his head and threw another stick onto the fire. "We rest. Tomorrow we'll continue our search. Sasuke, you and I will take the first watch." Kakashi got to his feet and stretched before walking over to stand beside her. The elder shinobi put a comforting hand on her shoulder and gave her a small smile before continuing on his way to the edge of camp.
Sakura turned around, grabbed her pack and shook out her bedroll, setting it down next to the fire. She slid off her boots and gloves and stuffed them inside her bag, along with her kunai pouch and shuriken holster. Slowly, she climbed into her bedroll and drew the blankets around herself as Naruto settled in beside her in his. Both mechanically untied their hitai-ates and placed them on the ground next to their bedrolls.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto said quietly as Kakashi and Sasuke wandered off a couple feet away from the fire to wait out the night. He lay down on his side, propping his head up with his arm as he gazed at her.
"Naruto?" Sakura whispered, looking over at him.
"C'mere," he said, holding open his arms in an invitation. He waggled his eyebrows at her, and she giggled at the joke, knowing that they both needed some comfort after finding the village in shambles. They were shinobi, so death should be natural to them. But no matter how much death is seen, it still hurts. And for Sakura, a healer by nature, the wound ran deep. In Naruto as well, judging by the haunted gaze of his eyes as he looked at her.
With a small smile and sharp tears pricking her eyes, Sakura threw her blankets back and closed the space between them, wrapping her arms around Naruto tightly as he ensconced her in a tight embrace. "Thanks, Naruto," she murmured against his shoulder, hiccuping softly. For all of his blunders and rude behavior, Naruto really did know how to read and interpret emotions. He usually knew what she wanted before she did.
"Sleep tight, you," Naruto yawned back, already half asleep. Sakura could feel his muscles already loosening as his breathing evened out, and soon, the comforting whoosh of his breath acted like a drug and caused her body to shut down and welcome the darkness of sleep. Sometimes it was nice to just have a friend.
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A careful shaking of her shoulder roused Sakura from her deep and dreamless slumber. "H-huh?" she murmured, eyes refusing to open. Why is Naruto at my apartment this early? she thought as she caught a glimpse of his blond hair before the cold of the ground and the arm haphazardly thrown over her brought back reality in a rush of sensations.
She sat bolt upright, startling Sasuke, who had crouched down beside her to wake her up, and rousing Naruto, whose arm was shaken off rather roughly. The night air was chilly, and she shivered slightly. "W-what time is it?" she stuttered out, still so very tired. The pounding in her temples slowly receded as all traces of sleep disappeared.
Sasuke's eyes were intent on her face despite the darkness. "Around four in the morning. I need to get some sleep." He straightened his legs abruptly and then stalked off to his bedroll, leaving her to wake up Naruto.
"Of course," she yawned, reluctantly shoving back the blankets to free her legs. "C'mon, Naruto."
"Mmm...comin'..." the blond murmured against his pillow, for all purposes already falling asleep again.
Sighing, Sakura climbed to her feet and stood next to her bedroll for a few moments as she regained her balance. She walked over to where Kakashi already lay sleeping, smiled at the sight, and then continued a couple feet to the edge of camp and sat down in the lukewarm sand. A hint of the blue dawn barely touched the rocks and sand, resulting in a slight glimmer across the sand dunes. Closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around her legs, Sakura reached for her chakra and sent out a small piece of chakra to scan the surrounding area.
Nothing.
Not that she had been expecting anything anyway, considering there was no place to hide in a place like this.
Minutes flew by as Sakura meditated, though her chakra was always alert on the surrounding land.
Still nothing.
Seconds passed, then minutes, then hours, until the sun began to shine steadily brighter and brighter as the unforgiving landscape warmed under its rays. Sakura welcomed the gradual warmth that was sucked up by the sand; it felt like she was sitting on a cushion oh-so slowly heating up. And with the sun came a sense of ease to the campsite. Naruto, Sakura belatedly realized, had never woken up for his duty, but she found in this peaceful atmosphere she didn't really care. After all, if there had been trouble, he would have woken up at the slightest chink as kunai hit kunai.
Slowly, Sakura got to her feet and pointed her arms toward the sky, stretching out her muscles. She worked her way down her arms to her shoulders, rotating her arms around and around in the sockets to warm them up before bending down to touch her toes. Once Sakura was done with every inch of her legs, she flipped her hair out of her face and gazed up at the sun. It must be around 7 o'clock in the morning, if her estimation was correct, judging by the brightness of the sun and its position in the sky. She supposed that out in the desert it didn't make much of a difference; traveling during midday was crazy, and heat stroke was inevitable.
Although she had been meditating all night and thinking was tiring business, Sakura was more than ready to leave. Adrenaline pounded through her veins; she needed to find out if Lord Igarashi was alive... or if not, help lead a resistance against that dictatorship that had replaced Igarashi! And get vengeance for the entire village that had been killed due to Maeno Montaro's men. At least, she hoped she it was Maeno, because he was a known threat. Add another enemy in there and it wasn't only an S class mission, but an ANBU one.
A noise to her left startled her, and Sakura spun around, hand already on her kunai. Only the sleepy face of Kakashi met her gaze, and she relaxed with a relieved sigh. "Thank Kami you're finally up!" she grinned, and her loud praise roused Naruto and Sasuke as well. The blond groaned and rubbed his eyes, while Sasuke sat up and stretched out his shoulder. Sakura stared at him; usually, if she looked at him long enough, their eyes would meet. But Sasuke must not have noticed, or must purposely be ignoring her, for he didn't even glance in her direction as he splashed his face with the remaining water in his canteen.
"Alright," Kakashi said wearily, slinging on his long-sleeved jounin shirt and zipping up his vest on top of it, "Naruto, hurry up! We'll eat breakfast along the way."
-
The walk to the next village, according to the map that Kakashi consulted but no one else saw, was ten miles away from the smoldering village Team 7 had investigated the night before. The trip over was uneventful, only if Naruto managing to break a boulder into thousands of tiny chips with a badly aimed punch at Sasuke for a snide comment was considered normal.
Soon enough, the village came into view. Sakura sighed in relief; there were no towering smoke plumes around this one, just glinting stone and the shimmering haziness of the sun beating down against the desert sand. In the distance far to the right, a cloud of sand blurred the horizon; Kakashi told them it was a caravan, due to the large amount of dirt, dust and sand being stirred up.
"Take off your hitai-ates," Kakashi ordered when they reached the front gates, untying his from around his silver mane and shaking it loose. Following his example, Sakura untied the knot holding hers in place and slid it off. Quickly, she opened her back and stowed it inside. On a second glance at her body, she took off her kunai pouch and shuriken holster and put them inside too. Better that she be as inconspicuous as possible, for they would be encountering a lot of people today, people that necessarily probably didn't trust shinobi at all. Even though the small villages that were located in Wind Country were under the protection of the Kazekage, many still didn't support the alliance with Konoha and maintained the idea that they were enemies here. Still, Sakura tucked away a flat kunai up her sleeve, just in case.
The four large bundles Kakashi drew from his pack drew her attention. Kakashi shook out one bundler and threw it around his shoulders; a cloak. "Here." He handed one to each of them. Sakura opened the bundle and held up her dark green travel cloak. "Everyone here wears something similar," their ex-sensei explained needlessly.
Then he turned his attention to Sakura as she put the cloak on and tied it around her neck and waist. "You'll need this." He handed her a pale green scarf. "Women here wear headdresses; your hair will need to be covered."
Sakura sighed. "Alright," she agreed, knowing it would help to make her blend in more, both with the women and that pink hair wasn't a very common color. She put on the veil around her nose and mouth and then covered her hair up with another scarf. When she was done, she nodded at Kakashi.
The four ambled down through the gates, passing through the first and then the second with ease. Slipping in with a large throng of cattle-herders, the team managed to sneak by security without having to either pay the toll or show passports.
When they reached one of the main streets of the village some twenty minutes later, Kakashi turned around in the middle street to address them. The busy villagers bustling in the streets around them sent them a scathing look, for now they had to push and shove into the crowd to manage to get around the miniature blockade they had created.
"Here's where we split up. There's too much ground to cover if we all stick together, and we're conspicuous enough that we may be caught. Sakura, who do you want to go with?" Kakashi asked, rubbing the back of his head angrily as a rather large man shouldered his way past the elite shinobi. Sakura giggled; if only that rude old man knew who it was he pushed!
"Uh... Naruto, mind if I go with you?" Sakura asked, ignoring the way Sasuke's head snapped around to stare at her in surprise.
"Sure, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said with a grin, adjusting the straps of his pack, "But we have to stop for lunch!"
She laughed. "Fine, fine."
"Here," Kakashi interrupted, pulling four sets of tiny microphones to place in their ears, "We'll keep in touch with these. If you see or sense any shinobi, contact Sasuke and I immediately."
"Hai."
And then Naruto was dragging her down the overcrowded streets of the city. They passed shop after shop, from food shops displaying ramen or a more traditional variety to ice cream parlors and jewelry vendors until Sakura's head begun to spun. The bright colors of the textile cloths and silks displayed on mannequins and on racks sent her head reeling, and the sheer amount of things that salesmen pressed upon the crowd was astounding. Naruto even stopped at one cart to hold up a bright blue sash with small flowers and pearls sewn into the silk. "Sakura!" he had called, "This would match your blue kimono perfectly!"
The two women working the shop had smiled and whispered behind their fans; they obviously thought that Naruto was a young suitor of hers.
She had smiled. "Thanks, Naruto, but I don't have enough for that."
The rest of the afternoon continued that way. Sakura and Naruto wandered up street after street, pausing to look into windows and amble on through store after store and tea house after tea house, spending ten minutes in each, trying to inconspicuously pick up on any conversation centering around Lord Igarashi or the burning village. Once, in the apothecary, Sakura heard the name "Igarashi." She had stopped dead in her tracks, her hand stilling over a book. As the people around her glanced up at her sudden presence, Sakura busied herself as convincingly as she could with the book as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. But then they began to walk around the shop, and no matter how hard she strained to hear them, she picked up nothing important or relevant to their mission.
Up and down the nearby street, then over two blocks, Naruto and Sakura had ended up at the tea shop that Kakashi had recommended trying. Gingerly, Sakura pushed open the long cloth that served as a door and entered the shop. A rush of cool air hit her, and blinking in the sudden darkness of the room in contrast to the unrelenting sun, she made out a small, quaint interior filled with small tables and a bar lining the opposite wall. She smiled despite herself; even in a tea shop, alcohol was being served.
As inconspicuously as she could, Sakura pretended to be inspecting the menu as she murmured into the microphone, "Kakashi, we're here."
"Good. Sasuke and I haven't found anything."
"Neither have we."
However, just as she said that, Naruto gently touched her arm. When she glanced over at him, she saw he was staring intently at the corner of the tea house, near the doors for the kitchen. Two middle-aged men sat there, both with their hoods up, one leaning back on his chair and balancing himself with his foot, and the other watching his partner intently as they spoke very quietly. Quietly enough for them to have to read each others lips... There! A slight hint of chakra! They were shinobi alright, and due to the scars on their hands that their long sleeves helped to hide, experienced ones at that! And the poor waitress that was waiting on them was trembling slightly... Sakura could pick up those vibrations from the air.
Naruto leaned toward her, snaking his arm around her waist. "Stay calm," he murmured, "We'll pretend to be a couple, that way we're less noticeable." Louder, Naruto grinned, "C'mon love, over here. I've heard that this tea shop is one of the best in town! You'll love it!"
Sakura giggled flirtatiously, playing her part. "Of course, darling. You know it doesn't matter where you take me, so long as I'm with you."
Together they went to the bar and sat down at the benches. The bartender came over and took their orders, but by the time Sakura glanced over at the two men, they were standing up, slinging their cloaks over their shoulders to leave the tea shop. She watched intently from the corner of her eye as the man who had been tipping his chair back reached into his pocket. For a horrible second, Sakura thought that he would withdraw a kunai, but instead, he only threw a tip on the table before he and his companion left the shop.
"Sakura!" Naruto whispered hurriedly, "We have to go!"
They gave the men a few seconds heads start, then snuck out of the door as quietly as possible. Sakura whirled around the corner, doing her best to remain as quiet as possible. Thankfully, the dull roar from the crowds of people in the streets helped to cover up the soft clicking of her sandals against the cobblestones. Behind her, Sakura heard Naruto mutter into the microphone, "Kakashi-sensei! We're tailing two shinobi, repeat, we're tailing two likely shinobi!"
They flew down the dark alleyway. At the end were the two men, walking side by side calmly down the street, but when they realized someone was behind them, both spun around with reflexes too sharply honed to be merely civilians. With a growl, Sakura concentrated chakra on her fists and feet; hopefully mere taijutsu would be enough to keep them occupied until Kakashi and Sasuke showed up to help. And besides, she had to access their level somehow; if she started out with her powerful jutsu first, then half of her chakra reserve would be gone.
Sakura raced towards the shorter one with a snarl; the man, expecting a punch from her left fist, was suddenly sent flying back when a surprise attack from her right fist caught his jaw. He cursed, and then scrambled to his feet, whipping out a kunai from his pouch.
"You bitch!" the man screamed at her angrily, throwing back the hood of his cloak to reveal a face just as scarred as his hands. A large chunk of flesh had been taken from his right cheek and had healed horribly, scar tissue covering it, while the other cheek was red with rage. He swung at her wildly, and Sakura was forced to back up. From the sounds of battle a few feet away, she knew Naruto and the other shinobi were fighting, but right now, she couldn't risk the change and ascertain if her partner was alright. Her shinobi probably wouldn't hesitate to kill her.
With a gasp of alarm, Sakura realized that his hitai-ate had the symbol for Sound on it. "Sound!" she muttered hoarsely.
The shinobi only sneered at her. "That's right, darlin'. But I'll have to kill you, now that you and this idiot have blown our cover. Maeno-sama won't be pleased if we let you live." He took another swipe at her with his kunai, one that nicked Sakura on her upper arm.
Sakura retreated in surprise; he was much faster than she had originally thought! That first shot at her must have been just a decoy! And Maeno! So these were his hired thugs, and quite possibly part of the group of shinobi that had murdered that entire village!
Behind her, a loud explosion sounded, followed by a grunt of pain. Naruto! Forgetting the danger, Sakura spun around and ran to save her teammate; Naruto's opponent, the other Sound shinobi, was holding him against the brick wall by his neck, slowly and painfully cutting off his circulation. She slipped the kunai from her sleeve and injecting chakra into it to make it stronger, aimed for the arm holding Naruto up. The chakra reached the shinobi's arm first, followed by the kunai; the combined attack cut through the arm, through the bone, and clear to the other side. When Naruto dropped, gagging and gasping for air, so did the arm of the shinobi.
The scream of pain from the enemy made the hair on the back of Sakura's neck prickle. Taking a defensive stance in front of Naruto as he recovered, she watched as the shinobi with the hitai-ate wrapped around his neck pulled his wounded partner to his feet.
Now was her chance! Kakashi and Sasuke had better be just around the corner, or this attack of hers would fail. It wasn't guaranteed to work, anyway, but it was one of her only options, with Naruto out of commission for a few more moments. The Sound shinobi were two strong for her to handle by herself. Rapidly forming the hand seals, Sakura muttered, "Kanashibari no Jutsu!"
Sakura grinned wickedly as both of the enemy, having lost all control and function over their motor skills and direction, collapsed into a heap on the ground. The grin soon slipped from her face when she realized that her chakra was draining rather rapidly; technically, the jutsu she had just used was ANBU level. Tsunade had taught it to her a year ago, but Sakura hadn't had any opportunities to use it in battle; usually she tried to conserve all the chakra she could. Her control of chakra may be excellent, but she didn't have to reserves her teammates had to draw from. In reaction to the energy being drawn from her body to power the jutsu, Sakura began sweating, and her knees began to tremble.
Naruto struggled to his feet. With one hand on her shoulder to steady himself, he yelled angrily into the microphone, "Kakashi-sensei, teme, where are you?!"
"Right here," Kakashi answered as he leapt into the alleyway and glanced down at the pile of shinobi at his feet. Sasuke landed next to him, breathless.
"What happened?" their dark haired teammate demanded, taking in Naruto's slumped stance and Sakura's obvious exhaustion.
"Sound," Sakura replied wearily, sitting down and leaning against the wall behind her tiredly, "Maeno hired Sound shinobi."
-
Kakashi had rented a hotel room for their purposes, as Sakura and Naruto both were sore and exhausted after the intense fight against the shinobi. They had meekly followed Kakashi and Sasuke back to the dingy hotel quietly which proved their exhaustion. If Sakura was herself, she would have shied away from the grubby, dirty looking "hotel"; it more closely resembled an old ruin, due to the vines and moss growing on it and the amount of trash surrounding the entire place. Her and Naruto slept away the afternoon as their two other teammates tried searching the village for clues again and to stock up on supplies. But they had no such luck; after the two Sound shinobi, the trail had run cold.
That night, Sakura was woken up by her sensei. "Your turn," he had simply before undressing quickly and slipping underneath the covers of the bed she had just vacated. Sakura could only shake her head and smile wryly; Kakashi really was very lazy. Well, not in battle, but at all other times he more than made up for it!
Sliding open the dirty sliding class door, Sakura stepped out onto the balcony and sighed in relief as icy air hit her warmed skin. Looking out over the railing at the dark shapes of the houses and buildings in the distance, she closed her eyes and allowed all of her thoughts and feelings to flood her in her solitude as she meditated.
Sakura was surprised by the coldness Sasuke now showed her. Yesterday he had obviously stepped past his comfort zone to apologize to her for the incident during training, and in the village, had even held her... well, that was debatable, since he had just crushed her body to his... It wasn't a hug. It was more like... like finding a handhold, a grip on something tangible as the bodies had swayed in the air above them.
She sighed, reclining back against the wall of their dingy hotel and closing her eyes. She couldn't see much in the dark anyway due to the lack of lanterns around the cheap excuse for a hotel; instead, she relied on her chakra.
There!
Sakura flew to her feet, dislodging the cloak from around her shoulders. There was a spark of chakra in the street below them!
"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" she roared, already having jumped off of the balcony and streaking over to that spark. Her sandal caught on a stray rock and tore, sending her flying forward, yet she righted herself and hastily pressed on. Great, she thought, I'm so graceful. Commotion behind her told her that Kakashi was hot on her heels, despite having been sound asleep only moments before. Soon, the undeniably taller shinobi passed her, his long legs extending his stride. Wryly, Sakura smiled; he had always been a faster runner.
Closer and closer they ran to the spark of chakra, weaving in and out of alleyways and sometimes making a detour to a rooftop. When they finally managed to reach the chakra source, a man stood in front of them, hands up in the air in front of them.
"Please, I'm not your enemy," he said in a deeply accented voice.
Sakura and Kakashi stopped a few feet from him, though they made no move to attack him. Sakura's head was swimming with curiosity. Who was this man?
The man drew back his hood; dimly, Sakura could make out a large nose and large lips set in a very tanned face. "I'm Hirotoro Kado. On behalf of Lord Igarashi, I have come to deliver his message and to lead you to him, shinobi from Konoha."
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And that's the end of chapter three! Hope you enjoyed it! Finally, Team 7 manages to gain a lead on Igarashi, and no, he is not dead! Thank you to all of you who reviewed!
-Jackie